The pursuers had changed the way they moved.

Najin had begun to notice it. Those who had scattered and operated alone were now moving in groups of at least two, sometimes three or four.

'Looks like killing six of them over two days had some effect.'

It was the second day since he had drawn the sword and begun his escape.

Over those two days, Najin had killed six pursuers operating alone. After taking down a bastard or two, he had gotten a feel for how to fight them, so killing six had not been difficult.

Ambush them. Lure them into letting their guard down. Hide his strength, then overwhelm them in an instant.

The fighting methods he had learned from Ivan and Offen worked against the Order's covert operatives, too. Though that did not seem to be the whole explanation.

Najin clenched his hand tightly, silently opening and closing it again and again. The arm injured in his fight with Hakan the Junkie, which he had barely been able to move, had now recovered enough for him to swing a sword.

'I don't think faster healing is the only thing that's changed.'

His body brimmed with strength, and his mind was clear.

When he opened his eyes wide, he could picture his opponent's next movements vividly, and he could now freely control the flow that propelled his body. Was this Excalibur's influence, too?

... Perhaps King Arthur had not been so extraordinary after all. Perhaps Excalibur had simply been absurdly overpowered?

For a moment—a very brief moment—Najin entertained that irreverent thought. Of course, he was mistaken. All Excalibur had given him was rapid recovery. Everything else had been his from the start.

He had simply resolved to cross the line and keep running. He had lifted the restrictions he had imposed on himself.

And so the talents he already possessed had begun to bloom rapidly. He had accumulated more than enough experience. On the verge of blossoming, his growth curve was climbing steeply.

"... Whew."

Watching the pursuers move, Najin let out a long breath. For the past two days, he had made a show of wandering aimlessly through the underground city, as though his goal were to hunt rather than escape.

The act seemed to have worked.

Apparently mistaking his purpose for hunting, the pursuers had begun moving together... and as a result, gaps had opened in the net they had cast across the underground city. It was about time he returned to his true objective.

Just one last time.

He only needed to put a decisive end to it.

Three pursuers were moving together. Najin closed the distance only after they entered a dark alley. The underground city had plenty of narrow alleys, and their walls naturally offered plenty of footholds. Stepping from one crevice to another, he approached them.

How to fight several opponents at once.

Najin smiled bitterly as he recalled the combat experience seared into his body, more times than he cared to remember, during his battle with Hakan the Junkie.

Of course, comparing mindless addicts with the Order's covert operatives would be a tremendous insult to them... but really, what did it matter?

'They don't explode like the addicts do.'

Killing them would not alert anyone nearby.

With that thought, Najin kicked off the alley wall and plunged toward the ground. Sensing his descent, the three pursuers immediately formed up.

The one in front swung a sword to meet Najin's attack, while the other two moved to strike through the opening that would create. Najin took in every movement.

And as he did, he realized that accurate information about him had yet to reach them.

'You shouldn't have tried to parry.'

An instant before Najin's descending blade met the pursuer's sword, it flashed white. A fragment of sword aura, summoned in a moment, wrapped around his blade.

'You should have dodged.'

It might have been only a fragment, but what Najin had wrapped around his sword was unmistakably sword aura. And he knew all too well how terrifying its cutting power was. He clearly remembered his iron sword being severed by Ivan's sword aura, and that moment when death had drawn right before his eyes.

A sword without sword aura could not parry one cloaked in it.

CRUNCH!

The instant their swords collided, the pursuer's blade shattered. Najin's sword carried on through, biting straight into the pursuer's shoulder and slicing through his body before emerging on the other side.

'One.'

Their envisioned battle depended on one of them blocking Najin's sword. By destroying that first condition, Najin had completely dismantled their plan.

SPLATTER.

Najin immediately lowered himself amid the flying droplets of blood. Evading the two swords thrusting out of the darkness, he drew his aura-clad sword low.

Unable to wield sword aura, the pursuers had limited means of attack in the narrow alley. Their blades would simply bounce off the walls. But not Najin's. Keeping low, he swung his sword horizontally.

SLICE.

With the aid of sword aura, the blade cut through the wall and emerged. One pursuer dodged, but the other failed to. As the pursuer toppled with a severed ankle, Najin drove his sword briefly into the back of his neck and pulled it free.

'Two.'

Blood sprayed. A corpse tipped over and fell.

Having dealt with two, Najin turned his head. His gaze met that of the pursuer who had lost both comrades in an instant. The hood pulled low concealed the pursuer's expression, but Najin could see his eyes wavering.

TAP.

As Najin took a step forward, the pursuer backed away. Unequal information had placed him at a disadvantage. Seeing the boy approach with sword aura drawn forth, the pursuer abruptly turned and began to run.

Hunter and prey had traded places.

Najin did not chase his fleeing quarry.

Instead, he pulled a throwing weapon from the bracelet fastened around his wrist. He had looted it while hunting the pursuers. Holding it, he took aim at the fleeing man.

He had never used such weapons before, but he had watched how they handled and threw them. Having seen it, imitating them was not difficult.

THUD.

Stepping forward, Najin hurled the weapon.

WHOOOSH!

It flew through the air and buried itself deep in the pursuer's leg.

"Ggh!"

The pursuer fell with a strangled cry. Najin finished him off by throwing another weapon at him.

'Three.'

After searching the bodies and looting what he needed, Najin went deeper into the alley. This would be enough. Now he began running toward his real destination.

The place Offen had told him about.

The only exit through which he could escape this underground city.

2.

Shortly after Najin left the alley, two pursuers entered it and scowled at the bodies of their comrades. They had been taken down despite staying together as a group of three? By a single boy born and raised in an underground city like this?

'Nine have fallen in two days.'

Three more on top of those nine.

A full twelve had died. They might have had no pride in being covert operatives, but they had at least some self-respect.

Even so, the mission had to be carried out. Swallowing their anger, they examined the traces Najin had left behind. During their investigation, they frowned. They had found something strange.

'The sword's been shattered.'

Their comrade's sword had been completely shattered.

There was even a long mark that looked as though the wall had been sliced open. No ordinary sword could have left that mark. It was a trace of sword aura.

The target was supposed to be eighteen.

An eighteen-year-old boy wielding sword aura?

Had he used Excalibur? No, that would have unleashed brilliant light. While they struggled to accept what they were seeing, someone stepped into the alley.

TAP.

They whipped their heads toward the sound. Fortunately or unfortunately, it was not the boy they were after. Standing there was the mercenary who had volunteered to cooperate in this matter.

"... What is it?"

Did he have something to report?

Offen nodded at the operative's question.

"Yes, there's something I urgently need to tell you..."

Stringing plausible words together, Offen advanced toward them one step at a time. By the time they frowned at his disjointed words, he had already closed to within roughly five paces.

Five paces.

The range Offen had set for himself.

Offen took a great stride forward and drew his sword. Sword aura settled over it the instant it left its sheath. The operatives belatedly reacted to the abrupt change in his presence, but by then it was far too late.

Swords clashed several times.

Blood sprayed several times.

Leaving two corpses behind, Offen let out a short breath and departed. Before leaving, he examined what appeared to be traces of Najin's sword aura and smiled. It seemed Najin was doing even better than he had expected.

Najin had killed six pursuers over two days.

But the pursuers believed the number was nine.

The other three had been Offen's work.

Pretending to cooperate, he had learned their routes, then struck them from behind when they were isolated. He had made it look like Najin's doing.

This ought to be enough. With a smokescreen this extensive, Najin's true purpose should be completely concealed.

All that remained was to prepare for the slightest possibility.

Imagining the worst of the worst, Offen headed toward Najin's final destination. It was not these mere covert operatives he was wary of.

It was the knight, Berlo.

He, too, was pursuing Najin.

He did not seem to have realized Najin's true destination yet, but even the slightest possibility could not be ignored. Having decided to do this, Offen intended to see it through to the end.

'... I don't know why I'm putting myself through all this.'

Still, he did not feel particularly bad.

Since being cast down into this city, Offen had spent every day drunk, living as though he were dead. He had wasted his time meaninglessly, yet even amid those wasted years, something had unmistakably shone.

A light that did not belong in this underground city.

A light he himself had never been able to possess.

Perhaps Offen had been projecting his own past onto that light. The starlight he had reached for but never managed to grasp. And so he hoped.

Please, let that light not be trampled.

3.

Najin ran along the route Offen had shown him.

He realized he was nearing his destination. He had begun to hear the rushing sound of falling water. Najin pictured the map in his mind.

The waterfall marked on it.

To reach that waterfall, he had to pass through a mine tunnel.

An old tunnel, no longer in use. Its far end led to the waterfall, so the moment he entered it, his escape would be as good as successful. As he ran toward where the entrance should be, Najin felt his heart pounding.

Not much farther.

Soon, he would be able to leave this city.

He had not yet crossed the waterfall, but he could not help feeling excited. The possibility of reaching the outside was coming into view. With every step, someone's voice echoed in his ears.

「Poor thing.」

「Why did you have to be born in a place like this?」

Those were the words the boy had heard all his life.

「You'll rot here for the rest of your life.」

「You'll never get outside. You're destined to spend your entire life among trash like us and die here...」

The mockery he had heard all his life.

Trixie's dying words, the sneers of the gang members he had killed with his own hands, Hakan the Junkie's voice—all of them kept circling in Najin's ears.

You cannot go up.

You will rot here for the rest of your life.

Your talent will only make you miserable.

Until now, he had ignored those words, sometimes cutting them off rather than listening. But no longer. Talk all you want. Laugh all you want. I will leave this place and go outside.

A smile formed on Najin's lips.

With every step.

With every step closer to the tunnel, the voices ringing in his ears disappeared one by one.

Running and running, Najin reached the tunnel entrance. All the voices had vanished, leaving only one in his ears. The voice of someone he had been unable to shake off, even at the very end, rang out.

「Don't cross the line, Najin.」

「If you cross it, I'll have to kill you.」

Najin stopped.

The tunnel entrance was right before his eyes, but he could go no farther. Someone was guarding it.

"You're here."

The one who had drawn the line for Najin.

The owner of the voice still ringing in his ears.

"I've been waiting."

One-Eyed Ivan.

The final line Najin had to cross, and the towering wall he had to overcome, stood there.